1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a vehicle operating device for operating a turn signal switch or the like by rotating a control lever.
2. Description of the Related Art
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-195103 describes a turn signal switch device.
The turn signal switch device includes a holding member integrated with a control lever. The holding member is rotatably supported by a housing. The housing includes a cam member. A drive pin protruding from the base portion of the control lever is in pressure contact with the cam member. The cam member has a shape so that the control lever is urged toward an original neutral position. In addition, when the control lever is rotated from the neutral position to either side and is set to an operating position, the control lever is temporarily fixed.
The housing has a cancel lever provided thereon. The cancel lever is urged in a direction in which the cancel lever protrudes from the housing by a helical compression spring disposed below the holding member.
If, while the vehicle is being driven, the control lever is rotated to one of the two operating positions and is temporarily fixed, the cancel lever is moved in the protruding direction by a pressing force of the helical compression spring. Thus, a protrusion portion integrated with the cancel lever protrudes from the housing. If a steering wheel is rotated in a turning direction and, thereafter, is rotated in an opposite direction (toward the original position), a cancel protrusion that rotates together with the steering wheel is brought into contact with the protrusion portion and, thus, the cancel lever is rotated. The rotational force of the cancel lever provides the control lever with a returning force to the neutral position. The control lever that is temporarily fixed at the operating position is released by the returning force. Thus, the control lever returns to the neutral position.
In contrast, when the control lever that is moved to the operating position and is restrained by the hand of a user and if the cancel lever receives a rotational force from a cancel protrusion that rotates together with the steering, a drive member provided on the holding member retreats against the force of a spring. In this manner, an excessive force is not exerted on, for example, the cancel lever.
In the turn signal switch device described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-195103, the cancel lever is urged by the force of the helical compression spring in the protruding direction. The helical compression spring is disposed in a space above the cancel lever and below the control lever. Since the space in which the helical compression spring is disposed is required, a large height of a mechanism is required and, thus, it is difficult to make the turn signal switch device low-profile.
The helical compression spring exerts a pressing force on the cancel lever in the protruding direction, and the helical compression spring exerts, on the cancel lever that is rotated, a returning force to the neutral position in the rotational direction. At that time, since the rotational pressing force exerted on the cancel lever by the helical compression spring is week, the compression spring needs to have a spring constant higher than necessary in order to ensure the rotational returning force. As a result, the drive load occurring when the cancel lever is retreated becomes excessive.
In the turn signal switch device described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2012-195103, the cancel lever is disposed in front of the holding member that rotates together with the control lever. Accordingly, a large space for disposing the cancel lever and its operation space is needed between the cancel protrusion of the steering and the cancel lever and, thus, it is difficult to reduce the size of the turn signal switch device.